Networks generally have devices connected thereto with agents executable on each network device to facilitate communication of the network device to and from the network. However, before an agent device can communicate with other agent devices connected to the network, the agent device must be configured and the other agent devices, as well as the management station, must be aware of the address of the existing agent devices and any new agent devices connected to the network.
Generally, devices have layer 2 Media Access Control (MAC) addresses preallocated at the time of manufacture. The layer 2 Media Access Control (MAC) address uniquely identifies each agent device manufactured. Generally, the MAC addresses are allocated by the IEEE Standards Association. These MAC numbers are unique hardware numbers for each network device connected to a network and uniquely identify each IED in the network. In an Ethernet local area network the MAC numbers are the same as the Ethernet address.
Typically, network devices are shipped from a manufacturer with default configuration settings, or, no configuration settings at all. This means that a network administrator must access the agent device before deployment in the network to at least minimally configure the network device. This minimal configuration may include providing Internet Protocol (IP) parameters so that IP enabled management tools can then be used to complete the configuration process. This minimal configuration process also requires obtaining the MAC address for each of the agent devices. This initial configuration process generally requires direct access to the network agent device. Unfortunately, in large networks, particularly networks implemented in harsh environments, direct physical access to a network agent device may be problematic, for a number of reasons, including physical barriers to obtaining access and/or the network agent device may be connected to the network at a remote or harsh location to access.
While all Ethernet network agent devices are given a universally unique Media Access Control (MAC) address or other unique identifier in the factory, it can be difficult to obtain the MAC address or other unique identifier from each of the network agent devices. Once the MAC number is obtained, however, the MAC address will facilitate communication with the device irrespective of any other configuration on the device.
Difficulties arise in network management when network agent devices are connected to the network without prior notification to the management station or the network administrator. Furthermore, it is not uncommon, particularly in harsh environments, to have electromagnetic interference and/or other types of interference which affect electrical devices, such that a multicast discovery message may not be received by a particular network agent device in a network. It is also not uncommon in harsh environments that a discovery acknowledge message from a network agent device having received a multicast discovery message does not reach the management station. These and other scenarios require a network management method and system which can robustly discover agent devices connected to a network.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a method, system and article of manufacture, comprising a machine-readable medium storing machine, executable instructions which permits an initial discovery and configuration of all discovery aware agent devices connected to a network to obtain at least the MAC address or other unique identifier without requiring physical access to the network agent devices. There is also a need in the art for a method, system and article of manufacture, which can be automated to run periodically in order to ensure that various network agent devices which have not been previously discovered, for whatever reason, are discovered in the future. There is also a need in the art for a method, system and article of manufacture to permit discovery of newly added devices without affecting greatly devices that have already been discovered.